Big Splash ready to make an impact

ALBURY’S first Big Splash fund-raiser looks set to live up to its name.

Interest in the event has been so strong that organisers had to close team registrations online, with more than 90 signed up for the event.

The teams — made up of sporting clubs, schools, and businesses — will stroke, paddle and float their way to the finish line in a series of relays at Albury Swim Centre from 6pm.

Money raised will go to the Border’s new headspace centre and the Survivors of Suicide support group, in memory of Albury teen Mary Baker, who took her life in 2011.

Steve Mamouney, of the Albury Water Polo Club, where Mary played, said improving awareness of youth mental health issues was a cause they were keen to get behind.

“It’s been on the agenda for us for a while but we wanted to wait for when the Baker family was ready,” he said.

“We work with younger people through the club and see the issues they have to go through.

“If we can band together to push these causes as a community I think that sends a pretty powerful message,” he said.

Annette Baker, Mary’s mother and an active participant in bringing headspace to the Border, welcomed the event, not only for her daughter’s memory but as the first local fund-raiser for the youth mental health centre.

Mr Mamouney said the celebrity race featuring Albury and Wodonga councils would be one to watch, as would the high schools’ butterfly relay.

There will also be “fashions on the pool” for the best outfits, live music and catering by Carevan.